PDF and EPUB Books for NOOK Tablet

Books for your NOOK Tablet can come in PDF and EPUB file formats. PDF and EPUB are simply the file formats in which the books are published.

Before you start worrying about file format, here’s the deal: If you purchase or download a book or other publication from the Barnes & Noble online store, it will work on your NOOK Tablet. And the same should apply to any major third-party online bookseller or free source (like Google Books).

This is specifically for books. Your NOOK Tablet can also display word processing, spreadsheet, presentation, and other files as well.

Both EPUB and PDF file types come in two types: protected and unprotected. A protected book has digital rights management (DRM) restrictions. Basically, there’s some limit on whether (or how often) you can make copies, lend, or transfer the title to another. Nearly every professional author and publisher supports the concept of DRM. Authors need to pay their mortgage and put food on the table, just like you.

EPUB

If you have a choice, go for EPUB so that you have the widest variety of customization and special features. If you can’t get an EPUB, PDF may be acceptable to most readers. Here are some details:

EPUBs are free and open (meaning that anyone can produce and distribute a file using this standard). That doesn’t mean you can release a document based on copyrighted material that belongs to someone else. An EPUB file is reflowable, meaning you can change font, font size, and other things.

PDF

These files can be created in either of two rather different forms. More advanced PDFs can include fonts and images, and will let you enlarge pages.

However, some PDFs are scans (think of them as snapshots). They may look fine on your NOOK Tablet, or you may need to adjust the zoom and move around on each individual page to read the text. And these most primitive of eBooks don’t allow you to change font or size and don’t link to the web.